It's Always Sunnier on the Other Side
by castellahiri
Summary: This story begins with a broken-hearted Danny Castellano in a diner. It's in third person, but will mostly be told from Danny's perspective. Basically, Danny has a mid-life crisis as it seems like everything is working out for Mindy perfectly, and wonders if NYC is really the place for him.
1. Introduction

_**It's Always Sunnier On the Other Side - Introduction**_

The familiar smell of bacon, eggs, and coffee hit Danny Castellano as soon as he stepped inside his old favorite diner in Staten Island. It wasn't much, but it felt more like home than anywhere. When he was a teen, his mother had to work long hours to support their family. Sometimes when his mom was out working into the early hours of the morning and their apartment seemed especially creepy, he'd bring his kid brother Richie to this place to have a late night breakfast. Richie never saw the danger in them being alone, and that's how Danny wanted it to be.

"Dining in?" A waitress dressed in old fashioned diner apparel asked him as he stood at the door.

"Yeah," he nodded, and followed her to a booth set for two.

As she picked the extra menu off the table, she smiled and poured him a cup of coffee. It was nice to see they hadn't abandoned that practice, even though it was clear the place had new owners and a fresh group of workers since he'd last been there. "Would you like any cream or sugar?"

"No, I like my coffee black." Danny judged anyone who put loads of sugar or creamers in their coffee. Like Mindy. He'd told her a million times that coffee was fine just as it was, that it's good for you that way, but she always insisted that her coffee should be sweet and only come from Starbucks or sheik, hip coffee shops her boyfriend, Bradley, took her to.

"Alright. Are you ready to order or do you need a minute to figure out what you want?"

"Uh, yes, can I have a slice of peach pie?" Peach pie had always been Richie's favorite.

"Oh, we don't serve that here, can I get you apple or cherry pie?"

"Ah, well, you used to..." Danny glanced over his menu, disappointed. "I'll just take two eggs over easy, then."

"Great, we'll have that right out for you." She scribbled down his request and walked away.

Danny shifted his weight in the booth, getting comfortable. He expected to be here a while. It was Tuesday afternoon, and he'd taken a "personal day" from work, hoping to figure some things out. He looked around the restaurant, this place where he'd had so many memories and felt both comfort and uneasiness. He liked the diner because it was old school. He chuckled to himself, remember what Mindy had said about the term "old school", once. "I hate when people say old school when all they mean is inefficient and rude." Then, he got annoyed with himself. _Stop thinking about Mindy. _And that's where the uneasiness came into play. He was surrounded by families and couples in booths. He couldn't help but notice he was the only single person in the whole diner. He was closing in on 40, but what did he have to show for it? He had one failed marriage, no children, and was trapped in a friendship with a girl in his office he had feelings for, even though she was obviously not into him. There had been a time when he thought he could be with Mindy, but now he realized all of that was stupid. She was in love with Bradley, and although had Danny fooled himself into believing she cared about him more than Bradley, he knew deep down it wasn't true.

When Mindy had first met Bradley at a department store and went on a few dates with him, Danny shrugged it off, assuming it was just going to be another one of her flings. It wouldn't last more than a couple weeks. One month, tops. Except, when the fourth month rolled around and Bradley was still being invited to all of their outings, Danny started to worry this was more serious than he'd originally thought. Now, they'd been together just over 8 months. It's not like Danny was keeping count, but Mindy reminded him every time a month anniversary rolled by. His fears were confirmed three weeks ago when Bradley pulled Danny aside to talk to him "man-to-man". He showed Danny an engagement ring and asked for "Mindy's best guy friend's blessing." The ring was expensive, and Danny knew Mindy would love it, so he'd replied "Yeah, I mean, sure, if you think you can make her happy, go for it." Danny hated himself for letting it haunt him so much, but he knew that any day now Mindy would walk into the office wearing that ring and everyone would surround her, excitedly asking how Bradley had proposed and what type of gown she wanted to buy... and Danny didn't want to see that.

"Your eggs, sir." The waitress interrupted Danny's thoughts as she slid a plate of eggs in front of him. "Need anything else?"

"No, thank you," Danny said to her as he picked up his fork and began to eat. The eggs were delicious, just as good as he'd remembered. _So what if Mindy's getting married? Good for her._ _She's getting the fairytale she's always wanted. _Maybe it seemed as if Danny's life was going no where, but a week ago he'd talked to his father on the phone, and it had given him some perspective. Sure, his marriage failed and he was still single, but he didn't need all of that. Marriage was for people who were too weak to live alone. Plus, his father had always seemed like a deadbeat and yet somehow he managed to get a happy ending, and Danny knew his past mistakes paled in comparison to his father's. And after that conversation was when it hit him. He'd never really lived anywhere other than New York. Sure, the Mets were here, but besides that, nothing was really holding him here. So, he'd gotten online and researched the best places for a single, male doctor to live, and discovered what he was looking for - Florida.

As he finished up his eggs and sipped his coffee, he pulled out some pages from a brochure he'd printed out. It was listings of different beach houses in central Florida. He reread the ones he'd circled with a blue pen a few days prior. He had more than enough money saved up to buy a nice home, and he'd even scheduled some over-the-phone interviews with offices down there already. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of moving there. Maybe he'd exhausted his time in New York, and if he wanted to move forward with his life he needed to be working towards something, right?

Danny left some tip money for the waitress as he stood up and took a final swig of his coffee. He paid the man at the register up front for his meal before heading outside into the dreary NYC weather. It was gray and cold outside. He buttoned up his coat for warmth as he began his trek back to the main part of the city. _It won't be gross like this in Florida. There's a visible sun there, and I'm sure I could find a decent diner somewhere nearby. _And it was then that he decided: he was moving to Florida.

* * *

I hope you guys liked this first introduction! The next chapter should be up pretty quickly, since I've got a weekend ahead of me. ;) I'm actually really excited about writing this. Comment or tweet me ( castellahiri) and tell me what you think!

xxAJ


	2. Chapter 1 - Office Mystery

Hey everyone! I'm sooo sorry it took a while to get this first real chapter up. I've been crazy busy with college and stuff, but the next one should come more quickly.

I recommend going back and rereading the intro (its short) so that you can refresh on everything that's going on. Basically, Danny has decided to move to Florida and no one knows yet. Also, Mindy is soon to be engaged to her boyfriend, Bradley.

* * *

It was lunchtime on Thursday and Danny was sitting alone in the break room of the office, reading a newspaper and sipping on some coffee. He was feeling pretty good. Work was relatively calm, he had a steady flow of patients, no one had pestered him with any personal drama, and he was getting excited about his coming adventure to Florida. His first phone interview was set for today.

"Danny! Look what I found in the printer. I think someone in the office is planning a vacation to Florida!" Mindy barged into the room, ruining his serene state. His stomach flipped at the sound of her saying "Florida". He hadn't told anybody yet, not even Richie.

"What?" He tried to act cool. Had he left listings in the printer? Surely he hadn't been that careless.

Mindy slapped the pages in her hand on the table in front of him. "Florida, Danny, and whoever it is didn't even invite me!"

"Who's going to Florida?" Morgan asked from the doorway.

"Someone really lame, probably," Mindy huffed. "I would be the coolest Florida companion ever."

Danny picked up the top sheet of paper. Yes, the papers were his. How was he going to cover this up? He didn't want anyone to know his plans until he was sure he could make the move. He tried to play it cool. "Wow, Florida. Who would wanna go there, anyway?"

Mindy rolled her eyes. "Of course someone like you wouldn't understand." She smiled and sighed as her imagination took over. "The beach, plenty of sun. Lots of hot guys. I would get hit on all the time and have to turn the poor boys down, 'cause I wouldn't cheat on my husband, Lebron James. We'd live in his beach house together and he'd teach me to surf."

Danny choked on his coffee.

She glared at him. "Ok, so maybe I would just watch him surf, but still."

"Min, aren't you already dating Bradley?" Danny asked.

Mindy left her dreamlike state. "Right, but this is just a fantasy, Danny."

"You don't fantasize about living with your boyfriend?"

"That's a whole other thing,"

Sensing the sudden tension in the room, Morgan cut in. "Florida is a great place! Always wanted to visit my brother down there."

"Your brother?" Danny asked. "I didn't know you had a brother."

Morgan uncrossed his arms. "Yeah! He's the best. We go way back."

"Well, yeah, brothers typically go 'way back'," Mindy corrected him.

Morgan gave a slight laugh. "Ha, yeah, of course."

"That's cool, Morgan. It's funny you say that, 'cause my brother Richie lives in Florida, too." Danny said as he finished off his coffee.

"That's right!" Mindy exclaimed. "You should find out who's going to Florida and we can go visit Richie."

"You wanna see my brother?"

"He can set me up with one of his cool friends."

Danny stood up from his chair. He was well-aware that he was a terrible liar, and his palms were already soaked with sweat. He needed to leave this conversation, or his cover would be blown. "You know, you should really tell Brad that you're looking for other men."

"I'm not looking for other men; I just want to keep my options open. I don't know how serious he is about me," Mindy admitted.

Great, now he really needed to leave the room. _Yeah, he's pretty serious, doll. He's got a ring waiting for you. _"Yeah, well..." Danny shrugged and exited.

Morgan picked up the papers Danny had left behind. "Hey Mindy?"

"Yeah?" she responded.

"These ads aren't for vacation, they're for homes." He pointed to the listing on the first page.

"What?" She walked over and looked at the papers. "You're right! Do you think someone in the office is planning on _moving_ there?"

"Maybe. If that's true, it's gotta be one of the doctors. The rest of us don't have the dough for that."

Mindy stared at the ads in her hands. "If its not me, then it's gotta be Jeremy or Peter."

"Office mystery!" Morgan gasped. "I love these games!"

"You're right, Morgan. We need to figure out who's moving to Florida. We have the right to know who we have to replace!"

"No one here is replaceable," Morgan argued.

"Then we'll have to convince him not to go."

"Ok, let me text Tamra and tell her the plan," Morgan whipped out his phone.

"No, tell no one. We don't know who's involved." Mindy grabbed the phone from him. "Why are you texting Tamra, anyway? I thought I told you to stop bugging her."

"Technically, she doesn't know it's me, so it's ok."

"What? Morgan, how is that anything near 'ok'?"

Morgan put a finger over Mindy's mouth. "Shhh, let's not let this office mystery tear us apart. That's exactly what they want."

Mindy knocked his hand away from her face. "Ok, don't ever do that again. And also, who is 'they'?"

Morgan pointed to the front desk. "Your patient is here! Go, and act normal. We can't let anyone know we're on to them."

Mindy reluctantly agreed and went to go greet her patient.

With or without Mindy, Morgan was determined to solve the Florida mystery. He knew Jeremy was in his office, so he whistled inconspicuously as he walked to Jeremy's room. When he knocked on the partially open door, Jeremy responded in his delightful British accent.

"Yes, Morgan?" He was working on some paperwork and seemed to be busy.

"Sorry to bother ya, Dr. Reed, but I'm taking a poll and I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me." Morgan picked up a pen and piece of paper and sat down, across from Jeremy.

"What is this poll for?" Jeremy asked.

Morgan twirled the pen in his hand, trying to look intimidating, but dropped it. He spoke as he picked it off the floor. "Uh, you know, personal stuff."

Jeremy turned to his computer. "I don't have time for personal stuff today, I'm very busy."

"I see, but this will only take a minute and its of level red importance."

Jeremy sighed, knowing it would be quicker to just comply with Morgan's request than to argue with him. "What do you need to know?"

Morgan cleared his throat and settled in the chair. "First of all, if you were going to settle down in one of the 48 states, which would you choose?"

"There are 50 states, not 48."

Morgan scoffed. "Yeah, right, like I'm going to count states that aren't even touching the others."

"What? Morgan, that doesn't make them any less important."

"Stop trying to change the subject and just answer the question."

"Ok, well I would obviously choose New York, considering this is where I chose to settle when I moved to America."

"People change their minds."

"I haven't."

"Mhmm... good to know." Morgan wrote some notes on his paper. "What type of shampoo do you use?"

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Nothing, I just admire the volume of your hair."

"I really need to get back to work now..."

"Ok ok just one more question!" Morgan pleaded. "Where were you at exactly 1:15PM today?" He had noticed the timestamp on the printed pages was 1:15.

Jeremy thought for a moment. "I suppose I was on my lunch break, at the deli down the street."

"Great, that's all I needed to know," Morgan shook his hand and left the room.

Next, Morgan went to Peter's office, only to discover that he wasn't inside. "Does anyone know where Dr. Prentice is?" he called out.

"Dr. Prentice is with one of his patients at the hospital. I think she went into labor..." Betsy replied.

Morgan banged his fist against the wall. "Dang it! I need to talk to him."

"I think he's dealing with more important things," Danny said as he passed him and walked to the front desk.

"Hi Dr. Castellano!" Betsy smiled.

"Hey Betsy, has anyone asked for me? I'm waiting on a call today."

"Nope, not that I know of!" She assured him.

"Thanks, just let me know if anything comes through," he replied as he began to walk back to his office, discouraged.

"Oh wait!" Betsy stopped him. "Some guy from an office in Florida called earlier, trying to tell me he has to reschedule your interview or something. I told him that he must've had the wrong Dr. Castellano. How silly, you already have a job!" She giggled.

Morgan perked up. "Wait, what?"

Danny covered his face with his hand. "Oh gosh..."

"It's you!?" Morgan yelled.

"Betsy, I needed to talk to that guy, can you call him back?"

Betsy looked worried and frantically began looking through the caller id, trying to find the right number. "I'm so, so sorry Dr. Castellano, I had no idea... I thought it was a mistake."

Mindy stepped out of her office, saying goodbye to her patient. "Have a great day!"

Morgan stared at Danny in disbelief. "Dr. Castellano, I can't believe it is you..."

Mindy looked from Morgan to Danny. "Wait, Danny is who?"

"The culprit!" Morgan threw his arms up. "He's the Florida mystery man!"

Mindy gaped at Danny. "What?!"

* * *

Thanks for reading! Tell me whatcha thought here or on twitter: castellahiri

xxJ


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